Importance Of Experimental Psychology

Experimental psychology is the aspect of psychological science that explores the human mind and its perceptions and behaviors through experimental methodologies and subsequent interpretation of the obtained results. Again, evidence-based practice in psychology is the integration of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture, and preferences (American Psychologist, 2006). This definition is in line with the one advocated by the Institute of Medicine (2001) that says, “Evidence-based practice is the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values” (Sackett, Straus, Richardson, Rosenberg, & Haynes, 2000, p. 147). Experimental psychological research makes

Since psychoanalysis explores the mind and explains its behavior, it is of prime importance; that said, it has been argued that psychoanalysis is overrated, as it is only able to explain the behavior after it has occurred and not make any helpful advance predictions. Behaviorism explains a wide range of behaviors from language usage to moral values using the principles of behavior shaping, generalization, reinforcement etc. Behaviorists were able to come up with moderately consistent predictions but absolute predictions for individuals was not possible. Cognitive psychology, on the other hand, follows a very scientific approach to explain primarily non-discernable mental processes through experiments and

For example, in experiments on effects of drug habits, the experimental results would almost always validate stress as a consequence of drug abuse. Thus by replication of results and consequent corroboration of facts, a theory is likely to gain acceptance.

Nonetheless, the limitations of the empirical approach following a specific scientific methodology are many: Since psychology deals mostly with humans, and no two human conditions can be the same, the results are never absolute. Moreover, human behavior changes with time and so would the results of experiments.

In establishing causes for incidents, psychologists take the deterministic view and discount the peripheral variables that influence human behavior and ones they have no control